My top mangaka, definitely Hiromu Arakawa. I love her art style so much, her story-telling ability, and definitely her humor. I hope to keep seeing more work from her! Her art style has definitely had some influence on mine as well. Same can be said with CLAMP; I love how their art can look very different, yet you still know it is distinctly CLAMP with the long bodies, elegant designs, etc.! I also learned the idea to have dark twists, hehehehe. Even though some of their stories can be painful, they know how to make us not hate it! HOW?! Brilliance.

Other mangaka I admire are among my colleagues at DREAM Online Magazine, because I just love their unique quality of manga art-style, and speed as an aspiring mangaka; Sai, Marshmellow Muffin, selenaloong, Ki Hiwatari, etc.!

I've only read a few chapters of Paradise Kiss but I've fallen in love with Ai Yazawa's art style and all the attention she pays to detail and fashion. Her characters can get really leggy like CLAMP's so that may be why I like her art so much, since I really like CLAMP. xD

Here are just a few (some of which have not been mentioned yet ), in no particular order:

Satoshi Mizukami (The Lucifer And Biscuit Hammer {a.k.a. Hoshi no Samidare}, Spirit Circle, etc.) - I am convinced this man is a genius. Everything I've read from him so far has been a brilliant combination of smart, funny, and moving. Can't wait to read more.

The Tsugumi Ohba/Takeshi Obata writing/drawing team (Death Note, Bakuman.) - These two are so good together. (And, actually, Obata-sensei's work on Hikaru no Go was great, too.)

And Ryohgo Narita (Baccano!, Durarara!!, etc. ...And yes, I know that he mostly writes novels; however, I'm counting him because #1, they're awesome, and #2, I can. And he *does* have an actual manga coming out soon, anyway. ) - The detailed, interwoven plots and huge, unique casts of characters this guy comes up with are just plain fantastic.